It’s a term that you may not hear everyday. But for workplace and occupational safety, it is certainly one of the more important concepts. Show
In this blog post, we will go over the most frequently asked questions regarding industrial hygienists. So, sit back, relax and enjoy this wealth of industrial hygienic knowledge that is about to be dropped. 1. What Is Industrial Hygiene?Let’s break it down. To best understand what industrial hygienists do and why they are important in our world today, we need to have a basic understanding of what industrial hygiene even means. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), industrial hygiene is the “science and art devoted to the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, and control of those environmental factors or stresses arising in or from the workplace, which may cause sickness, impaired health and well-being or significant discomfort among workers or among the citizens of the community.” What this means is that industrial hygiene is a practice that recognizes and analyzes workplace hazards and employs methods that will combat them to ensure safety and health to people. In a similar way that we care for our personal hygiene, the hygiene of an industrial company is crucial to maintain. 2. What Does an Industrial Hygienist Do?Now that we’ve reviewed what exactly the term “industrial hygiene” means, it’s time we go over how industrial hygienists do the work that they do. The hygienists will evaluate jobs for potential physical, health and safety hazards through site monitoring, testing and analysis. The monitoring period is the beginning stages that inspect a workplace to see if hazards are present. The testing phase is exactly how it sounds. Hygienists will test products, the work environment and other areas for potential hazards and contamination. Hygienists detect any exposure to hazards and will then put into place practices to prevent and minimize those hazards. The analysis stage will determine which and what kind of hazards are present as a danger to employees. At the end of the analysis period, the hygienist will go over what is necessary to properly control these hazards to ensure employee safety and health protection. 3. Why Is Industrial Hygiene Important?In addition to sheer safety and health of the community, industrial hygiene is extremely important in the work industry. Aside from the obvious, employee satisfaction is among some of the reasons you should consider industrial hygienic inspections. As a company, the health of your employees should be top-priority. With healthy employees comes an increase in job productivity. If the workplace is a safe environment, workers are at an increased likelihood to be more productive. Companies who are aware of potential hazards and act to enhance and protect the health and safety of employees and the surrounding community are more likely to retain their employees. 4. What Are Some Job Hazards?The most common types of hazards that come within the workplace can range from simple air contaminants to chemical, biological, physical and ergonomic hazards. We have listed below the kinds of hazards to each: Air contaminants
Chemical hazards
Biological hazards
Physical hazards
Make sure you’re familiar with how employees can be affected by these hazards. For instance, chemical hazards can affect people through inhalation, absorption (contact to the skin) and ingestion. Biological hazards can ultimately cause infections, both acute and chronic. To avoid these dangers that could be present in the workplace or your products, make sure you have the proper testing and inspections done by certified professionals. If you have any questions, concerns or are in need of testing, please don’t hesitate to contact Environmental Hazards Services! When someone asks, “What is industrial hygiene?” or “What are the types of hazards defined by industrial hygiene,” they are inquiring about a topic intertwined with occupational health and safety. According to the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH), occupational health is virtually synonymous with industrial hygiene. These are the terms occupational hygiene and environment, health and safety (EHS). Industrial hygiene is the science of safeguarding and bolstering people’s safety and health in their communities and workplaces, per the ABIH. Physical, biological, chemical, and ergonomic factors in people’s workplaces, homes, or other settings can all be risks to safety and health. Industrial hygienists focus on the anticipation, identification, assessment, and control of these hazards – preserving wellness. When the American Public Health Association approved the creation of an Industrial Hygiene Section in the early twentieth century, this field started to get recognition. Dr. Alice Hamilton’s work in connecting toxic exposure to workers’ illnesses was central to promoting the need for industrial hygiene as well. Early adopters of industrial hygiene programs tended to center their efforts on reducing noise and chemical hazards. At the time, very few people had the requisite expertise and were offering themselves as industrial hygienists. Instead, organizations used their engineers, physicians, toxicologists, chemists, and other scientists in their ranks to assess and optimize workplace health and safety. Industrial hygiene has become a much more widespread and studied concept between then and now. Industrial hygiene is about maintaining cleanliness while removing toxicity from work environments using control methods to mitigate health impacts from hazards. In contrast, occupational health studies hazards in terms of their health impacts; striving to prevent workplace illnesses, occupational health focuses on the consequences of hazard exposure. Regardless of this technical distinction, the terms are often used interchangeably. Why is industrial hygiene important?Industrial hygiene is important because it applies science to workplace health and safety problem-solving while unifying all personnel and management through a shared goal. By helping you reduce risks within your workplace, this field helps you avoid the negative impacts of injuries and illnesses, including losses of time and money. Your end result is a more productive climate with higher morale. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) notes that the field of industrial hygiene is important to the assessment of worksites for health hazards. Industrial hygienists are central to OSHA’s work because the goal of occupational health is to protect the wellness of the workforce through hazard control; in fact, more than 2 in 5 OSHA compliance inspectors are industrial hygienists. As new physical, biological, chemical, or ergonomic hazards become apparent over time, industrial hygienists continuously develop standards to address them. What is an industrial hygiene assessment?An industrial hygiene assessment is just that, an information-gathering process checking how well your space meets industrial hygiene standards. It gives you an idea of where there might be issues to address. Through this assessment, also called a worksite analysis, the inspector or consultant evaluates, analyzes, and studies how worksite risks impact health. The process involves the detection and measurement of types of hazards defined by industrial hygiene throughout all of an organization’s operations and roles. After the assessment, the industrial hygienist provides the company with suggested steps to correct any hazards. What are the types of hazards defined by industrial hygiene?There are five categories of hazards to address, per OSHA: #1. Air contaminants — Fibers, aerosols, mists, fumes, and dust are all particulate air contaminants. You also may have issues with vapors (as when solvents or paint are used) or gases (such as carbon monoxide from vehicles). #2. Chemical hazards — Chemicals could be consumed, absorbed through the skin, or inhaled. Vapors, fumes, dust, mists, liquids, gases, and solids are all forms these hazards can take. #3. Biological hazards — Medical, laboratory, food processing, and food service staff are particularly at risk for exposure. Entering the body through breaks in the skin or directly, these potential infection sources include fungi, viruses, and bacteria. #4. Physical hazards — Temperature, vibration, illumination, noise, and electromagnetic radiation are key concerns in this category. Shielding is particularly important in guarding against radiation. #5. Ergonomic hazards — Ergonomics is the science dedicated to optimizing system performance and human wellness by understanding how humans interact with their environment. Heavy lifting, repetitive motion, eye strain, and excessive vibration/noise are examples of risks in this category.  Your Industrial Hygiene CompanyDo you need to ensure your workers are protected through an industrial hygiene assessment? At AOTC, our first step is to evaluate your business needs and develop a customized program. Contact us today to discuss your options and schedule your courses today. What are the 4 types of industrial hazards?Industrial hazards consist of four principle hazards. This is because industries employ many different processes involving a wide range of different raw materials, intermediates, waste products and final products. The hazards encountered are fire, explosion, toxic release and environmental damage.
What are the four key elements of industrial hygiene?The Five Components of Industrial Hygiene. Anticipation.. Recognition.. Evaluation.. Prevention.. Control.. What are 4 common workplace hazards explain each?Workplace hazards can incur great costs for a company, but if identified and assessed properly, they can be controlled and prevented, or at least minimised. We've listed out the 4 most common ones - physical, ergonomic, chemical, and biological.
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